PNPA - a Transformative Approach for Learning and Practicing Nanoengineering

Robert D. Cormia

Foothill College

Training for Success

• Workplace effectiveness

• Extensible careers

• Supporting innovation

• Learning platform

• PNPA - nanomaterials engineering framework

Bill Mansfield, a technician at the New Jersey Nanotechnology Center at Bell Labs in Murray Hill, N.J., holds a reflective 8-inch MEMS (micro-electro-mechanical system) disk in a "clean" room of the nanofabrication lab at Bell

Labs.

SRI/Boeing Study

• What do technicians do?• What do technicians know?• What don’t they know how to do?• Need relevant experience• Solve relevant problems

Nanotechnology, Education and Workforce Development - AIAA Technical Conference 2007 Vivian T. Dang, Michael C. Richey, John H. Belk (Boeing), Robert Cormia (Foothill College), Nora Sabelli (SRI), Sean Stevens, Denise Drane, Tom Mason and …NCLT and Northwestern University

Nanotechnician Competencies

• Measurements

• Fabrication / process

• Modeling / simulation

• Knowledge of nanoscale

• Work in teams (SETM)

Deb Newberry Dakota County Technical College – University of Minnesota

Nanomaterials Engineering

• Challenging applications– Novel properties– Novel structures– New processes

• New structure – property relationships

http://tam.mech.northwestern.edu/joswald/

Scenario Based Instruction• Industry context

– Energy– Medicine– Information storage– Biotechnology– Transportation

• What are the problems?

• What are the materials?

• What are the processes?

Nanomaterials for Energy

• CIGS – Copper Indium Gallium (di) Selenide

• CZTS – Copper Zinc Tin Sulfur / Selenide

• Carbon nanotubes

• Graphene

• Lithium iron phosphate

Carbon nanotubes are proposed as a novel storage vessel and carrier for hydrogen gas

CIGS Solar PV Module Stack

Nanoco’s advanced PV-QDs comprise a proprietary organic ‘capping agent’ or ‘ligand’, which allows for ease of printing utilizing a variety of printing techniques. Once printed, the organic capping agent is removed via heating providing an inorganic photoactive layer of the desired phase.

Chalcopyrite Structure

Ten Key Nanostructures

• Thin film and amorphous silicon (PV) – solar energy

• Carbon nanotubes (CNT) / carbon composite materials (aerospace & transportation)

• Surface coatings and SAMs (Self Assembled Monolayers) Sensors and bionanotechnology

• Nitinol™ (biomedical stents) / electropolished alloys

• Thin film and plasma coatings (polyester film) / high performance glazing

• Particles (coated particles) biomedicine / powder metallurgy (lithium batteries)

• Dendrimers (nanochemistry) – biomedical drug delivery

• Polymers and composites / nanoparticle filler - lightweight automotive and aircraft materials

• Silicon materials Micro Electro Mechanical Systems - (MEMS), Lab-on-a-Chip (LOC), DNA microarrays

• Ceramics and electro ceramics / fuel cells - (stationary / mobile power)

Nanoflowers

PNPA Rubric• Application driven process

(A)

• Properties (P)

• Nanostructures (N)

• Fabrication (P)

• Characterization (N-P)

• The ‘Nanoengineering Method’

A Rubric for Post-Secondary Degree Programs in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

PNPA Rubric as a Compass

• As you work, as you learn, as you read:– What are the applications? (A)– What properties are needed? (P)– What are the (nano)structures? (N)– How do you fabricate / process it? (P)

• Use characterization tools to develop structure property relationships (N-P)

• Fine tune process (P) to fine tune (N-P)

PNPA / 4-D Compass

Process (P)

Applications (A)

Properties (P)

Nano-Structure (N)

PNPA – Example Curriculum

• Self Assembled Monolayers (SAM)

• Surface coatings

• Surface properties

• Derivatized surface structure

• SAMs structure / wetting

• Coating process and XPS characterization

• Correlate spectroscopy with performancePartner – Asemblon http://asemblon.com/

Deeper Learning Outcomes

• Can PNPA help students learn better?– Understand / consider application needs– Visualize structures / properties together– Ask how a material is made / processed?– Think about methods / tools to characterize

• Use PNPA to ‘connect’ topics in the four-course series – from A to PNPA

• Can PNPA help technicians work better?

NSF Project 2009-2012

• Develop a four course program

• Rewrite curriculum using PNPA

• Integrate scenario / contextual purpose

• Develop Linked Learning Outcomes (LLO)– A dozen key nanostructures and themes

• Train and test how this affects technicians– NanoNoteBook® Semantic Wiki course journal– Employer interviews – did PNPA matter?

Four Course Nano Program

• NANO51 – Survey of Nanotechnology (A)

• NANO52 – Nanostructures (N-P, N-P)

• NANO53 – Nanocharacterization (N-P)

• NANO54 – Nanofabrication (P, N-P)

• Internship – practice PNPA / industry

P = PropertiesN = StructuresP = ProcessingA = Applications

N-P = Structure-PropertiesN-P = Structure-Processing

Discovery

• Needed an ‘on ramp’ to the program– NANO50 for high school students– Big picture Nanoscience concepts

• Industry supports ‘integrated model’– Nanomaterials engineering method

• Nanostructures to nanosystems– Understanding how networks affect properties– Helps foster structure => properties insights

NANO 50 - Nanoscience

• High school students• AS degree / transfer• Incumbent workers• Displaced workers

• Workshop: ‘Big Ideas of Nanoscale Science and Engineering’ (SRI and NCLT 2006-2008)

PNPA Rubric - Applied

• In the workplace…– Think broadly about devices / applications– Visualize structures and their properties– Understand fabrication / processing– Think about characterization – constantly

• Are structure-properties characterized?

• Can structure-processing be improved?

• Apply PNPA in every ‘working discussion’

Program Learning Outcomes (PLOs)

Nanomaterials Engineering PLOs

• For nanomaterials engineering, the overarching learning outcomes are:– What did you make? (characterize structure)– How did you make it? (micro-process)– How can you make it better? (optimize process =>

structure for structure => properties– How do make it consistently? (process variance of

process => structure relationship

SETM – Extensible Technicians

• We don’t train for multidimensional thinking required in a workplace– Scientific knowledge

– Engineering process

– Technology know-how

– Manufacturing competencies

• Technicians need to think from all four corners of SETM – just like PNPA (rubric)

SETM / 4-D Technicians

Engineering (E)

Technology (T)

Science (S)

Manufacturing (M)

Nanostructures to Nanosystems => PNPA-2

• (N) nanostructure => nanosystem• (A) archetype (network structure)• (P) process (network interactions)• (P) (emergent) properties (at scale)

PNPA-2 helps explain the emergence of properties at scale by extending a nanostructure to a nanosystem, and understanding properties as a result of extended network interactions (e.g. electrical conductivity and magnetism)

Graphene

Graphene as a Network

Lattice constants m and n Delocalized pi e- bonding network

pi-stacking interactions from a ‘structure’ to a ‘system’

Networked Carbon Structures

From the network architecture, add interactions, observe emergent properties

Biomimicry – PNPA 2.0?

Summary

• PNPA – nanoengineering method– Train technicians for multidimensional work

• Four course nanoengineering program

• PNPA - LLO with structures and context

• Create a course notebook (Semantic Wiki)

• Test for deep learning / working outcomes

• Develop the ‘extensible technician’ SETM

Acknowledgements• George Bodner• Neha Choksi• Vivian Dang• Denise Drane• Mark Hersam• Gregory Light• Tom Mason• Michael Richey• Nora Sabelli• Shawn Stevens

• Boeing Corporation• Evans Analytical Group• NASA-Ames Res. Center• NCLT – National Center for

Learning Technologies• Northwestern University• Purdue University• SRI International• Stanford University• University of Michigan